‘Salt Bones’ by Jennifer Givhan

Published by Mulholland Books,
2 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-031659648-0

Malamar "Mal" Veracruz has never left her town of El Valle, California, which resides next to the toxic, sulfuric remains of the Salton Sea. She has lived a difficult and troubled life but tries to make the best of what she has. She raised two children at a young age, cares for her parents and brothers and experienced the disappearance of her sister Elena when they were children. Now, history is repeating itself and another child has gone missing and when Mal starts to see visions of the horse-headed women, La Siguanaba, she feels a duty alongside her daughters to uncover the truth. Is she there as a threat and a bad omen, or does she want to provide them with support and guidance? 

The story is told from the viewpoints of Mal and her two daughters, and it really hits home the impact that the privileged and wealthy have on marginalised communities and the lack of support and resources they can access. It also highlights the environmental decay and irreparable damage that results from colonisation. 

The mix of both English and Spanish adds a wonderful extra element, and it really helps to flesh out the setting and provides richness and depth to the characters which already have a rawness to them. 

Salt Bones is a mesmerising story, mixing Indigenous Mexican Folklore, family trauma and true crime to create what I can only describe as a masterpiece. The depth of storytelling creates such a vivid mental image, and Givhan’s writing is just so wonderfully poetic. It really is a must read.
----------
Reviewer: Lorraine Carpenter

Jennifer Givhan is a Mexican-American and Indigenous poet and novelist from the Southwestern desert and the recipient of poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN Emerging Voices. The Los Angeles Times called her novel Salt Bones “a triumph… one of the most masterful marriages of horror, mystery, thriller and literary writing” and it was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Book Riot Best Mystery & Thriller of the Year, a Marie Claire Best Mystery-Thriller of the Year, a Library Journal Stellar Selection, and an American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Her latest novel The Sleeping Sisters will be published 18 August 2026.

Lorraine Carpenter lives in the Southwest of England with her partner Doug. She spends most of her free time reading and has loved mysteries and thrillers since a very early age. If she’s not reading, she is most likely to be drawing or crocheting (very poorly) and watching a true crime documentary.